"Her name is Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, and she is as lovely as the dawn. But that is only one of her problems. There’s also the matter of those three magical gifts of treasure bestowed on her by a mysterious old woman. And King Claudio the Cruel wants to marry her for her beauty and her wealth, and so does his rival, Prince Edmund of Dorloo. Those are two more problems. And, worst of all, she is locked in a tower, with a grille of iron bars and several hundred tons of stone between her and freedom. Some days Alexandria wishes she looked like a pickled onion. Clearly the only thing to do is escape — and, with the aid of her twelve darling goose companions, that’s precisely what Alexandria does. So begins the adventure of Patrice Kindl’s beguiling heroine. Her flight will take her to strange lands and lead her into perilous situations, all of which the plucky Alexandria views with a wry and witty spirit. Here is a sprightly tale of magic and romance, in which those geese play a most surprising role." Goose Chase is a very easy but entertaining fairy tale, first published in 2001. It is a spin-off of "The Goose Girl" and in it, we have a very young woman (she is fourteen) who does not wish to marry and must escape. King Claudio is, true to his name, cruel, and his first two wives died mysteriously. Prince Edmund, who is "somewhat less intelligent than a clod of dirt" would be better, but still awful. So you see, the only alternative is to flee. But how? Besides The Goose Girl, elements of Rapunzel are present too; at the beginning Alexandria is imprisoned in a tower, and her long golden hair grows and shrinks upon command, proving very useful on several occasions. (And harmful).I love fairy tale retellings, and this was a good one. The writing mimics an older style, using the words 'tis, 'twas, trow, and more. It was a bit inconsistent at times, but I still enjoyed reading it. Most fairy tale retellings are written in a modern style; not so with this one. Alexandria narrates confidently in her own distinctive voice. Also in most fairy tales, there are talking animals. In Goose Chase, the geese don't talk, but they are incredibly intelligent, and they understand perfectly well what Alexandria says to them. They also have a will of their own, and although they want to help Alexandria, they'll do it in their own manner. The way that they help rescue her from the tower is pretty funny. It involves several mattresses. I really loved the story itself. All of the events were really entertaining to read about, particularly Alexandria's back-and-forth with the idiotic prince. He grows on you, and he is not as stupid as he might first seem. He's just kind of awkward and bumbling, but very lovable. The way he talks is really funny too, and he does actually offer some good suggestions. I raced through Goose Chase, mainly because of how short and easy it is, but also because it was a very absorbing read. I wanted to find out what would happen, and there was a mystery aspect too, which I kind of guessed at. Alexandria's name was too elaborate for a simple Goose Girl, and I thought that there must be something more to her. The only other book I've read of Patrice Kindl's is Keeping the Castle. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't great. Goose Chase certainly wasn't great either, but I enjoyed it more. Keeping the Castle had Austentatious pretensions which it failed to meet; Goose Chase is just a lovable, easy romp through a fairy-tale kingdom. I would definitely recommend it for younger readers, although the older style language might be a bit difficult for them. The book was entertaining and light, good for an hour or two.3.5 stars. www.novareviews.blogspot.com
14 year-old Alexandria Aurora Fortunato was a simple goose girl, until the day she kindheartedly helped a ragged old beggar woman, who "rewarded" her with gold dandruff in her hair and diamonds that fall from her tears. Now she finds herself locked in a tower as various unsavory princes and kings fight over her hand. (Only desiring her money, of course.) She engineers an escape with the help of her geese, who manage to fly her out of the tower. Have you ever spent time with a flock of geese? The geese in this story - a little bossy, full of personality, mostly loyal, are delightful.Goose Chase is true to the title - there is a lot of travel, and chasing throughout the story. Soon after making her getaway from her prison tower, Alexandria finds herself enslaved by a family of dim-witted ogresses, Nellie, Lucinda and Tessie. Bumbling Prince Edmund attempts to come to her rescue, but ultimately Alexandria must rely on her own wits, her magical hair, and her loyal geese to save the day.There's a wonderful lost fairy tale feel to this story. Alexandria's magically growing hair and tower imprisonment remind one of Rapunzel. The diamond tears seem inspired by The Fairies by Charles Perrault. There are enough thee's and thou's to give the story a old-timey, medieval feel without being too inaccessible for young readers. Fast-paced, funny and witty this was a quick read. I'd recommend this for 4th and 5th graders.Compare to:The Princess Curse by Merrie HaskellThe Thirteenth Princess by Diane ZahlerThe False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
What do You think about Goose Chase (2002)?
I loved this book. It was charming and funny. Alexandria Aurora Fortunato, or Goose Girl as she is referred to for the bulk of the book, was given several annoying fairy gifts. She is more lovely than the dawn, when she brushes her hair she sprinkles gold dust everywhere, and her tears turn into diamonds. These gifts bring her to the attention of the cruel King of Gilboa and the somewhat dim Prince of Dorloo. Both men want to marry her, and they lock her in a tower until she picks one of them. C
—Laura
Alexandria is a goose girl with serious issues. Like being locked in a tower by the King and the Prince who think that is the way to win her hand in marriage. And then there’s the old hag, who gave Alexandria diamond tears, gold dust dandruff, and looks as beautiful as the dawn. Which, of course, have contributed to Alexandria’s current “locked-in-a-tower” status.Fortunately our fair heroine has twelve geese. Geese with the ability to poach mattresses off of clotheslines and turn them into the first flying Alexandria-get-away vehicle.Unfortunately, Alexandria still has issues. Like the fact that one of her “suitors” is also a murderous plotter intent upon marrying her in order to fund his own attempts to usurp the kindom.Goose Chase is a tongue-in-cheek fractured fairy tale full of original humor, a few powerful lessons, and one great surprise. I enjoyed Alexandria’s scathing opinions of traditional fairy-tale ideals. And I enjoyed even more seeing her dawning realization that perhaps her own judgment might also be a wee bit flawed.
—Anne Osterlund
The story has a nice fairytale charm to it, but it never made a big impression on me. Maybe the heroine wasn't as likable and clever as she needed to be to carry this type of tale off? The plot is literally just going from one kidnapping situation to another. It made caring about the story hard, because what's the point in getting invested in the characters' efforts to escape when you've learned from experince they're probably just going to be taken hostage again? The only reason Alexandria can escape the tower she's being held captive in the first time is because one of the servants forgot to lock the door. That's disappointing, shoddy writing. I wanted to see how she'd use her wits to escape, not fall into some dumb luck.And after closing the book, I realized that as far as we know Alexandria still has her "gifts." There's no mention whatsoever of the old woman taking them away, despite her return for the climax and everything else wrapping up nicely. When you go to great lengths to deconstruct why magical beauty would be a huge pain in the ass, I expect it to be gone by the end of the story.
—Reilly
